


Don't Knock It

by FivePips



Series: Tumblr/One Shots [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Author, Books, Bookstores, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Writers, novels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-07 06:15:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17955152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FivePips/pseuds/FivePips
Summary: Sirius Black's favorite book series is coming to an end. He attends a reading by the author, Hope Howell, but ends up getting chatted up by a good looking bloke with no interest in the books before hand.





	Don't Knock It

**Author's Note:**

> So, for a few different fics I’ve had Hope being a writer of this series of Sookie Stackhouse-esque novels. Of course Sirius loves them and Remus is indifferent but supports his mom. This idea has been rolling around in my brain for a bit and this just happened.

“Thank you for coming out to see Hope Howell. The author of your favorite fantasy romance novels will be on stage to do a reading and Q&A in a bit. Please get a cup of coffee and do some browsing until we get to hear about the new adventures of Charlotte Knocks.” The woman on stage said.

Sirius looked at his watch. He was getting antsy, so he decided to go browse the stacks. There were at least twenty more minutes until the reading started and Sirius had already claimed his seat a half hour before in the front row. He set his jacket and book on to his seat then went off to wander the stacks.

Reading the Charlotte Knocks books were an escape for Sirius since he was a young teen. He first stole the original book from Waterstones at thirteen. He couldn’t buy it because he was with his mother. Sirius knew she wouldn’t like the book for many reasons. One of the main characters was gay so that meant the work was off limits. It was also about magic, which was the work of the devil. She probably also disliked it was written by a woman to boot.

One day at Hogwarts before the school year ended, Sirius had heard Lily talking about the book and just had to read it. It was mainly due to the fact it had a gay character. He hadn’t read a book with one in it before. Sirius was thrilled to see the display not long after on that shopping trip. Sirius read the book late into the night with a flashlight under his covers. He hid the book under a floorboard under his bed. He devoured it then properly bought book number two through Lily. From there on, he read and reread all the books. They were like a security blanket.

Now, the series was coming to an end. Hope was putting the series to rest because she wanted to move on to new things and give her characters a happy ending. At first, Sirius was upset about it. He had gone through a lot of tough times in the past and the Charlotte Knocks books were always there for him. Then he realized that just because the series ended, it didn’t mean that he had to stop reading the books and caring about the characters. It didn’t mean that Hope was done writing either.

“Have you ever read anything by this Lockhart bloke?”

Sirius was startled when he heard the voice behind him. He had not been paying attention as he wandered down the biography section. He turned around to find the most handsome man standing in front of him. The man was tall with green eyes and curly light brown hair cut into an undercut. He had dimples and a pleasant smile. In his large hand was Gilderoy Lockhart’s tales about his most recent dangerous travels.

“Um, yes, and I think — think they’re bullshite.” He couldn’t believe half the shite in the man’s books. He was waiting for someone to blow it all up on him.

The man laughed and set the book back on the shelf, “Me too. Everyone goes on about him constantly but he’s a twat.” He waved a hand. “So, you’re a fan of Hope’s?”

Sirius nodded, “Her books did a lot for me when I was a teenager.”

The taller man gave him a soft smile, “That’s nice.”

“What about you, what’s your favorite book?” Sirius questioned him.

“Oh, ah, I’m not a fan actually,” He at least had the decency to look sorry about it. Clearly, this man couldn’t be perfect. Sirius could overlook this minor flaw, though. He was at the reading, so he couldn’t completely hate the books.

“Why are you here, then Mr…”

“Remus Lupin,” He laughed. “I’m sort of here out of obligation.”

“What type of obligation?” Sirius questioned.

“My mum is—”

“That’s adorable,” Sirius interrupted. “You came for your mum.”

Remus chuckled and shook his head, “What’s your name then?”

“Sirius,” He held out his hand and Remus shook it firmly. “Now, Remus, why don’t you like the books? They’re diverse and the stories are all so well thought out. Hope’s world building is amazing and for such a large series there are very few plot holes.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think the writing is great. Fantasy Romance isn’t my cup of tea, is all.” Remus shrugged his shoulders. “I have nothing against the books or the fans.”

“That bodes well for me?”

“Possibly,” Remus nodded. “Do you fancy getting a coffee?”

“I do,” Sirius grinned. This reading was even better than he was hoping for. “Are you sure your mum won’t be upset that I’m taking you away from her?”

“Oh, no, she’s busy with other things at the moment,” Remus began to lead Sirius towards the café part of the bookshop.

“Well, I’m very happy about that.”

“I’m sure she will be too. She always tells me to find someone who likes these books to date. I guess it means they’re smart and empathetic or something.”

Sirius chuckled as they came to the short line in the café, “She sounds like a smart woman. Sadly, how do I know you’re empathetic and smart and what not?”

“I guess we’ll have to get dinner and I can tell you more about myself?”

“You know, you’re very smooth. You just chatted me up and got me to get coffee with you and now I very much want to go out to dinner with you in the span of five minutes.” Sirius explained to the taller man.

“See, most people think I’m this quiet wallflower.”

“A quiet wallflower who looks like this,” Sirius waved his hand up and down in front of Remus. “And is also as smooth as that?”

“My cardigan has elbow patches,” Remus pointed to the elbows of his grey cardigan.

Sirius snickered, “Your mates are daft then. I’ve never let anyone pick me up in the stacks and I go to bookstores a lot.”

“See, if we were going on appearances, one would think it’s you in your tight pants with long hair and tattoos chatting blokes up.” Remus grinned.

“One would think,” Sirius said as they got to the front of the line.

They ordered their coffees and Sirius insisted on paying. They chatted happily as Remus escorted Sirius back to his seat. Sadly there was not any room for Remus to sit with him. “Look, stay here. I have to get back to my mum. I’ll meet you in line after, if that’s okay.”

Sirius agreed. What a brilliant day. He was going to get Hope Howell’s new and final Charlotte Knocks book. He was also going to meet her and get his book signed. On top of it all he had the opportunity to meet this lovely bloke and get a date out of it.

The woman from earlier went up to the small stage, breaking Sirius’ thoughts. “Here to introduce Hope, is someone very special to her, her son, Remus Lupin.”

Sirius’ eyes went wide as Remus walked on stage, “What the bloody fuck.” He said under his breath as Remus winked at him. The man he was chatting with was his favorite author’s son? The author that helped Sirius get through some hard times? What the fuck?

“Hi, everyone, thank you all for coming out here. My mum asked me to introduce her. At first I rejected the idea because I’ve always been kept out of the public eye. But then I thought more about it and wanted to be there for my mum like she was always there for me. She’s done so much for me growing up. She was such a supportive parent who was always there for me, cheering me on. Really, you’d never know how busy she always was between writing, book tours, and most recently dealing with the television series that’s about to come to Netflix.”

Sirius knew he was staring at Remus with wide eyes, and the man would probably think he was mad but he couldn’t help t. How on earth did this happen.

“I’m also really happy I did this because I just ended up getting a date,” Remus smiled at Sirius. “Really, though, my mum has a lot to be proud of in her life. This bloke I just met sort of reminded me of how her books have touched people and helped them through tough times. She wrote a gay character originally because a cousin had recently come out and that part of the family wasn’t happy. Of course when I came out as bi, she had to add the bloody bi werewolf.”

Sirius let out a sharp laugh. The character was his favorite. Of course the werewolf was inspired by her wolf named son.

“Mum was told a million times not to diversify her books just for the sake of diversity. She always shut it down by reminding whoever it was that that was the real world. Not everyone is straight and mostly white. My mum wanted her stories to reflect the real world, no matter how much magical fantasy was in them.

“Now, without further ado, please welcome my mum and your apparent favorite author, Hope Howell.”

***

After Hope did her reading and Q&A, Sirius went to go get in line. He was still floored by the fact of who Remus was. This seemed completely impossible.

“Hey, Sirius,” Remus’ voice brought him out of his thoughts.

“You bastard!” Sirius said in a hushed voice but still, the eyes around him looked on curiously. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I was worried you’d say no to a date.”

“Why would I say no?”

“You might have panicked, I don’t know. Plus, I wanted to make sure you weren’t a weirdo.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Remus laughed, “Look, mum offered to meet you later if you rather. There’s a Thai place down the way she loves. Do you want to go grab some food and she’ll meet us there when she’s done?”

Sirius was staring at him with an opened mouth once again. “What?”

“It beats waiting in line,” Remus shrugged.

“Love, I’m not trying to pry,” The older woman in front of them turned around. “I’d go for the food.”

“Ah, um okay.”

“You two make a lovely couple.” She added before Sirius stepped out of line.

“I can’t believe this,” Sirius shook his head as they walked towards the exit. He hugged his new book against his chest. “What a bloody day.”

“I’m sorry if this is too much.” Remus said when they reached the door. “I’m starving and I thought you might prefer to meet her without being rushed. Really, she’s the one who suggested it. I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned you in my spiel.”

Sirius laughed, “I’m not going to complain anymore.”

“Okay, good. So, Sirius, what do you do with yourself when you’re not reading books? We never talked about that.”

“I’m a teacher.”

Remus whistled, “Never had a teacher that looked like you.”

Sirius felt himself blush, “What about you? Live off mum’s money.” He joked.

“Funny, no, I’m an editor. Bookish ways run deep in our family.” Remus explained.

Again, their conversation flowed easily on their walk to the restaurant. They got some appetizers as they waited for Hope and continued to talk. They learned more about one another. They talked so much, that Sirius nearly forgot that Hope Howell was going to be joining them for dinner.

“Sorry, dears, that took far longer than I thought it would,” Hope said in one of the most calming voices Sirius had ever heard. “I’m sure you don’t fancy me crashing your date, but I would have felt horrible if you are looking forward just to meeting me and not dealing with my son.”

Sirius laughed as Hope reached for her book, which was in the middle of the table.

“Mum,” Remus rolled his eyes.

“I’ll only stay for a quick bite then I’ll let you get back to your date. Honestly, my son inviting me to his first date with such a handsome man,” She clicked her tongue, reaching into her purse. “Now, Sirius, what’s your favorite book?”

Sirius watched as she pulled a sharpie out of her bag, “Ah, the first book, I think. It’s the one that got me hooked. I’ve read it the most.”

She smiled warmly, opening the front cover, “That’s my favorite too. People love—”

“Charlotte and Nigel getting together finally, yeah.”

Hope nodded with a grin, signing the book.

“The first book, I — er, I stole it.” He confessed to her.

Hope looked at him in surprise.

“My parents, they’re very traditional. I was out shopping with my mother one day and I was dying to read it, so I nicked it. I bought another copy of it after I was disinherited but I needed to read it. I read the first copy so much that I broke the spine and the pages all fell out.”

“Honestly, this is my favorite story anyone’s told me. I’m sorry about your parents,” Hope reached over and patted his hand.”

“They were horrible but I got a better family,” Sirius smiled thinking about the Potters. “They love your books too.”

“The only person that doesn’t is my son.”

Remus groaned.

“I’m kidding of course, I wouldn’t want to read my mother writing sex scenes either.”

Sirius laughed as Remus’ cheeks pinked.

“So, let’s eat and I’ll let you get to your date.”

 _***_  
_One Year Later_

The lights went up in the theater and everyone was on their feet. They had just shown the first episode of The Charlotte Knocks Chronicles. Sirius felt like his teenage self was jumping for joy somewhere in his soul.

“What do you think?” Hope leaned over as everyone around was still clapping.

“It was brilliant! The best book to screen I’ve seen. I can’t wait to watch the whole series. I loved your cameo!” Sirius said excitedly.

“It was amazing, mum.” Remus said, kissing her on the cheek.

Sirius followed Hope out to the reception. There were a lot of people that he recognized from media around. Sirius felt completely out of place. He had just happened to meet Remus at a book signing a year ago and now he was rubbing elbows with fancy people.

“Having fun,” Remus questioned after handing Sirius a flute of champagne.

“Loads,” He kissed Remus on the cheek. “You’ll watch the show with me?”

“Sure,” Remus took his hand. “Anything for you.”

“You know, I already gave your mum a list of actors that I want to play you.”

“Oh god,” Remus snickered. “That’s a few seasons away now.”

Sirius laughed as his boyfriend slipped an arm around his waist.

“What’d you think of the show!?” A girl in glasses asked eagerly. Clearly she thought Remus and Sirius were just fans as well.

“It was brilliant, what about you?” Sirius asked her.

“I — oh! I’m so sorry, I just realized you’re Hope’s son.” She looked a Remus.

“It’s fine. I liked it too if it’s any consolation.”

“And he hates the books.”

“I do not!” Remus protested. “I love the books, they brought me this bloke after all.” He gave Sirius a squeeze.

“You two as so bloody cute!” She said.

Sirius couldn’t help but agree with her. They were bloody cute and he was so happy.


End file.
